Polity & Governance

The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was passed by the Parliament.

Highlights of the Bill:

The Bill seeks to amend the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.

The Act defines promissory notes, bills of exchange, cheques and creates penalties for issues such as bouncing of cheques.

The Act specifies circumstances under which complaints for cheque bouncing can be filed.

The Bill amends the Act to state that cases of bouncing of cheques can be filed only in a court in whose jurisdiction the bank branch of the payee (person who receives the cheque) lies.

If a complaint against a person issuing a cheque has been filed in the court with the appropriate jurisdiction, then all subsequent complaints against that person will be filed in the same court, irrespective of the relevant jurisdiction area.

If more than one case is filed against the same person before different courts, the case will be transferred to the court with the appropriate jurisdiction.

The Bills also amends the definition of ‘cheque in the electronic form’. Under the Act, it was defined as a cheque containing the exact mirror image of a paper cheque and generated in a secure system using a digital signature. The definition has been amended to mean a cheque drawn in electronic medium using any computer resource and which is signed in a secure system with a digital signature, or electronic system.

[Sources: Economic Times, PRSIndia]

Lok Sabha passes the Indian Trusts (Amendment) Bill, 2015

The Indian Trusts (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was passed by the Lok Sabha.

Highlights of the Bill:

The Bill seeks to amend the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 (Principal Act).

The Principal Act regulates the functioning of private trusts and trustees. It also outlines the manner in which surplus funds of the trust may be invested for future use of the trust.

The amendment would enable the Central Government to notify securities or class of securities for investment by trusts and to remove the outdated provisions occurring in section 20 of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882.

Section 20 deals with the investment of trust money and restricts the trustees to investing only in the prescribed securities, including promissory notes, debentures, stock or other securities of any state government or central government or of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland.

The Act lists seven categories of securities in which trust money can be invested. These include some pre-Independence references such as securities issued by the United Kingdom, by municipalities of Presidency towns, Rangoon, port trust of Karachi

[Sources: Business Standard, Economic Times, PRSIndia]

International Relations

MoU between India and United Kingdom in the field of energy sector

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on cooperation in the energy sector.

The areas of cooperation include the following:

Market reforms, regulatory structures and the role of competition in the supply and distribution of electricity, including regulations and incentives for Renewable Energy deployment;

Science & Technology

Its main task will be to monitor online piracy and recommend blocking of websites. It will also prosecute the pirates and choke their revenue sources.

The taskforce will have representatives from cyber crime police, state IT ministry, internet service providers, the Telugu film industry, legal experts and financial experts.

Modelled on London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), the initiative is critical for the Telugu film market, which is the second-largest in South India after the Tamil film industry.

PIPCU in UK is an independent unit of London Police. It is dedicated to protecting industries that “produce legitimate, high quality, physical goods and online and digital content from intellectual property crime. However it is not clear how TIPCU will be funded

Piracy in India:

Film piracy is a $1-billion market in India. Most of the piracy market has shifted online thanks to the growing penetration of smart phones.

Every year, 1,500-2,000 films are produced in India, losing up to 30 per cent of their business to piracy.

The industry has long been demanding government intervention in this area.